Reverend Ref +

SERMON
16 PENTECOST
PROPER 18A
(Romans 12:9-21)

** Disclaimer: I've posted the original text of what I intended to preach. However, due to the situation and emotion of the day, I just sort of rambled, touching on a few of my points here and there. This really is one that you "had to be there" for.

In the blink of an eye, things can change.

As I read through the lessons for today in preparation for this week's sermon, I began to focus on the passage from Romans. And as I read through it, I was continually struck by how Paul's admonition to his fellow Christians to extend hospitality, bless your enemies, live in harmony, associate with the lowly, etc. seems to be ignored by the fundamentalist movement in favor of a more adversarial position. Not only are they adversarial to both non-Christians and Christians of the "wrong" denomination, but they are also overtly nationalistic, in which anyone who disagrees with the current administration is labeled traitor, un-Christian, un-American, and sometimes worse.

I struggled with trying to understand how our government and its conservative Christian supporters could reconcile Paul's words to not repay evil for evil and to feed your enemies, with their support of an unprovoked, pre-emptive war against Iraq.

I wondered how this ostensibly Christian administration reads Paul's words about extending hospitality to strangers and overcome evil with good, when John Bolton is attempting to eradicate the Millennium Development Goals from the U.N. charter.

I wondered why Pat Robertson, conservative Christian leader and politician, would advocate the assassination of President Chavez of Venezuela, as well as the deaths of Supreme Court justices so that this administration could fill that court with the "right" kinds of people. I wonder how Pat hears Paul's words to live in harmony, peaceably and nobly.

I wondered how it is that when I read the Bible, I read about love and inclusion and support and forgiveness; and why when the conservative fundamentalists read that same Bible, they see nothing but expulsion, derision, vengeance and hate.

I wondered all of that and how this passage from Romans might challenge you and your view of Christianity.

And then, the eye blinked; and the eye's name was Katrina.

The Gulf Coast has been decimated. Whole towns have been wiped off the map. New Orleans is now a lake. That city, the entire city, has been ordered to be evacuated. More bodies are found every day. The standing water is undrinkable, and it won't be long before the diseases it carries start killing more people. People who took shelter in the Superdome are being sent to the Astrodome in Houston. That facility is now full, and they are turning people away.

Looting and general lawlessness is the order of the day. People are fighting each other for everything from food to transportation. Rescue workers have become recovery workers. I've read reports that people are shooting at rescue workers in an effort to get them to not pass them by.

Hospitals are crippled, and some are becoming morgues. There is now power, no phones, no transportation.

People ask, "Why didn't they leave? They were given an evacuation notice." They didn't leave because they couldn't. People were left to use their own vehicles to escape. The homeless and the hospitalized don't have vehicles.

I have several seminary classmates who live down there. One of them had his church building completely wiped off the face of the earth. No rubble, no trash, just gone. Several others are also dealing with the aftermath. New Orleans has become a Third World area. It's a cross between the devastation of the Indonesian tsunami this past Christmas, and the lawlessness of Iraq and Sudan right now.

What can we do? As Episcopalians, we can work with and through Episcopal Relief and Development. Using our money, this organization can help to ensure that hospitality is extended to strangers, that the lowly are not forgotten, that the hungry are fed and the thirsty are given water. This is part of what we do. Today is the first Sunday of the month, and all of the cash collected will go to my discretionary fund. I will then pass on that amount to ERD. Additionally, from now until further notice, I will send half of all monies collected for the discretionary fund to ERD for hurricane relief.

Finally, this hurricane was not the result of the wrath of God. It was not Allah taking revenge on our nation for how we've treated the Middle East, as some fundamentalist Muslims have said. Nor was it God's will to smite New Orleans because a gay pride parade was scheduled for Monday, as some fundamentalist Christians have said. This hurricane was a natural disaster. It was the result of oceanic and atmospheric conditions, pure and simple.

People ask, "Where is God in all of this?" God is weeping with those who weep. God is in the actions of the search and rescue teams. God is with the people ministering to those who need it most. God is with us telling us to overcome evil with good. God is with everyone affected by this storm. And now it's our job to make God known to the survivors. Because that's what we do.